NextAero have reached a milestone on the development of the Project19 engine. The first ignition test has been performed using preliminary engine hardware debut on the new cryogenic liquid fueled test stand.
The initial testing program is focused on evaluating the performance enhancement of our aerospike profile engine nozzle compared to the traditional bell (de Laval) nozzle. The aerospike shows increased performance over the bell nozzle at low altitudes, where the air pressure is relatively high. The objective of this early test campaign is to assess combustion thrust data at a range of simulated altitudes. This provides a very unique dataset that will be used to inform design choices on the Projec19 prototype engine.
